Def Leppard allow Rock Of Ages musical to use their music

As the Rock Of Ages musical returns to New York, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott explains why the band have allowed their music to be used for the first time

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Def Leppard(Image credit: Kevin Nixon)

The Rock Of Ages musical opened in New York back in 2009 and was built around some of the best-loved rock anthems from the 80s.

Music from artists including Journey, Twisted Sister, Whitesnake, David Lee Roth, Pat Benatar, Poison and more were featured. But one artist whose music didn’t appear was Def Leppard’s – despite the fact the theatrical production was named after one of their songs.

Now Rock Of Ages has returned for a short run on Broadway to celebrate its 10th anniversary – and this time Def Leppard’s music will be part of the spectacle.

Speaking about the decision, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott tells The New York Times: “There isn’t a person alive that’s never changed their mind. People are going to go, ‘Ah, it’s good enough for you now but it wasn’t then.’ Well, yeah. That’s exactly right.”

Explaining further, Elliott adds: “We were always getting lumped in with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal when we first started out. The only band that really survived of any note was Iron Maiden.

“Cut forward 10 years, and some moron comes up with the phrase ‘hair metal,’ and we’re going, ‘Dude, we couldn’t have been so far removed from that if we tried’. While everybody else was poncing around Sunset Boulevard doing whatever they did, we were in Holland living next to a windmill recording Hysteria.”

Elliott says that when Def Leppard were approached 10 years ago about allowing their material to be used, it felt like “a play based on everything that we stood against.”

But he now adds: “It’s not like the thing suffered. It didn’t go down the tubes and go bankrupt because we weren’t involved. If anybody suffered it was us, because we could have been in something that turned out to be relatively successful.”

Rock Of Ages gets under way at the New World Stages off Broadway today (June 21) and will run through October 6.

Def Leppard have just released the second volume in their career-spanning box set collection through UME/Virgin. It brings together 1992's Adrenalize, 1993’s Retro Active, 1996’s Slang and 1999’s Euphoria, along with rare tracks, b-sides and live recordings from the 90s.